The late afternoon sun basked us in its glory. We marched ahead, reaching the same area we had explored before. My shoulders were already filled with blood, the weight of the backpack finally taking its toll on my body. Adding my bruises, I couldn't say with confidence I'd last much longer.

"This should be far enough," said Mara, heaving out a sigh as she analyzed the ruined area surrounding us. Met with our scouter's remark, Logan only rose his hand, signaling for the rest of us to stop.

I came to a halt, attempting to hold more of the rucksack's weight in my palms by clenching its straps, rather than allowing it to strain my shoulders.

"What's going on?" Lucas asked.

Edward only looked back toward us, his gaze much calmer compared to the first time he met Lucas. The stress of coming to this place must've influenced him quite a bit, but with time, he appeared to have grown used to our new companion's presence.

"We're dividing now," Logan said. "Let's search the area."

"Whom goes with whom?" I had to ask.

He pointed toward me and tapped Mara on her shoulder, forming our team. As a porter, the significant amount of weight on my back would obviously slow me considerably, thus having them safeguard me was a given. Despite that, I couldn't help but cast a reluctant glance toward Edward and Lucas who moved in the opposite direction.

"Do you think they'll get along?"

"That's a good chance for the two of them to get closer to each other," replied Logan firmly.

"I know, but—"

"Edward can cast his feelings aside," he continued. "There's no way he'd do a mistake like that. And from the looks of it, our new chick knows how to behave himself, so everything should be fine."

Although I never witnessed Lucas's physical prowess, I should probably swallow my concerns. Melody was definitely keeping an eye on them both. If any monsters were to head toward them, I'm sure they'd be able to avoid them. Not only that, but I trusted Edward's judgment. He'll figure things out, even if the situation he was put in was clearly unfavorable.

With that being said, we moved ahead. Something resembling a store appeared in sight, and Mara was the first to approach it. Most of its windows were shattered, so she had no problem hopping inside. Some grass grew in through the tiles, which wasn't that surprising to see by now.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Logan and I followed after her once she gave us the okay. Whenever she'd go ahead, Mara could turn from your cheerful maiden into a capable scout, focused entirely on her surroundings. It got to the point where she wouldn't even utter a single word so she could hear better.

"Check the counter," Logan ordered.

There was nothing of importance to be noticed on the broken shelves I passed by, heading toward the counter. I hoped I'd be able to find some money in the cashier. By the time I peeked my head over; it was empty. Forced open, from the looks of it. Someone's rough handy work, I'm sure.

A sigh escaped from my mouth as disappointment took over instead my gut instead.

I lifted my eyes, only to observe the same expression on both, Logan's and Mara's faces. There was nothing in this place. Absolutely nothing. It had been scavenged clean by someone that came before us, which was strange. The last time we visited this area, there were still some things we could take, but now...

A firm tap on my shoulder was enough to snap me back to reality. "Let's go," Logan said, and I followed, heading toward the cafe on the other side of the street.

Mara tried to open the door, but it was completely shut. A barricade of sorts also covered the window's frame's upper half, leaving the bottom side completely exposed for our scout to crawl in. Logan, on the other hand, waited outside. He was too big to fit in, and he'd rather not smash anything in his way with the axe, if possible.

I watched her move around, swiftly and nimbly. The dust had gathered on top of the tables, and mold had eaten away at some of the washed-red fabric on the sofas. That should've been a good sign, yet it vanished as soon as I saw Mara's bitter look while rummaging through the counter's shelves. If her expression wasn't convincing enough, the click of her tongue was.

Everything was fine, for now. We barely checked two places, after all. There was a whole district left to check.

I poked Logan with my finger, then pointed toward some of the cars around us. Most seemed to have already been broken into and completely scavenged, but I'd rather do something than simply wait around to see Mara's usual cheerful expression contort into misery.

After squinting his eyes, he gave me permission to move. "Stay close, though."

"Can I leave my backpack here?"

Moving around was a lot more difficult with the additional baggage on my body.

"Only until Mara's done with the cafe."

At that, I only nodded, feeling the lightness in my back, neck, and shoulders as soon as I plumbed the backpack down. Some dust emerged underneath its weight as it touched the ground.

With long strides, I approached one of the cars in our vicinity. Its headlights and wheels were missing, among many other parts that constructed the vehicle previously. I grabbed its frame with my hands and shoved my head through its window, or what was left of it. Inside, there wasn't anything worth taking.

Underneath Logan's frown, I've kept on desperately looking for an object I might sell, but couldn't find anything at all. With each failure, the void in my stomach kept growing bigger and bigger, to the point I came to a sudden realization.

There was nothing left for us to take anymore.